Pirates Choice

Orchestra Baobab take their time on Pirates Choice without making that time feel empty. The entrance of Utrus Horas, where guitar and saxophone prepare the way for the voice, offers an immediate introduction. Cuban music was an important influence on this Senegalese group, but describing the result as imitation misses the individuality of the players. Their melodic conversation gives familiar dance materials a particular accent and scale.

The date 1982 identifies the recordings. World Circuit distinguishes them from the international release as Pirates Choice in 1989 and the expanded edition in 2001. The version here contains the initial six selections and six additional recordings. It is neither the band’s career debut nor a newly recorded reunion album. That chronology matters, but the music deserves attention beyond the appealing story of rediscovery.

Guitar and saxophone as fellow speakers

Barthélemy Attisso’s guitar and Issa Cissoko’s saxophone suggest different ways of completing a phrase. One can divide the line into small notes while the other takes a longer breath. When singing enters, it joins a conversation already in motion. The instrumental passages are therefore more than gaps before the next vocal appearance. They allow another kind of melodic sentence to occupy the song.

Hear the first six as a group

In this edition, Utrus Horas and Coumba lead towards Ledi Ndieme M’bodj and Werente Serigne, followed by Ray M’bele and Soldadi. None needs to hurry towards a short pop-song conclusion. Rather than measuring the distance to the next chorus, notice what the instruments do while the singer pauses. The extended duration makes those exchanges easier to follow and gives each performance its own pace.

Continue into the additional session recordings

Ngalam begins the second group of six. These are further recordings from the original sessions, not later concert performances appended to an earlier album. Familiarity with the first group makes the second a useful comparison: the ensemble’s relationships can inhabit different songs without becoming a fixed formula. What emerges is the range of a working dance band, rather than a single style preserved as a museum specimen.